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Friday, February 13, 2009 – 8:00 pm
Massey Hall
Tickets: $69.50 to $39.50
Call 416-872-4255 or visit the Roy Thomson Hall Box Office
www.masseyhall.com
Toronto – The raw emotion of fado will tug at listener’s
hearts and souls when Mariza, Portugal’s reigning fadista,
performs at Massey Hall on Friday, February 13, 2009
at 8:00 pm. This performance launches Mariza’s extensive
three-month 24-city tour of North America and coincides with the
American release of her newest album, Terra. The album was
nominated for a 2009 Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best
Folk Album and has remained #1 on Portuguese charts for 11 consecutive
weeks.
With her mesmerizing contralto and a series of acclaimed recordings,
the Mozambique-born, Lisbon-raised singer has achieved international
superstar status and brought Portugal’s brand of soulful blues to
a worldwide audience. Since her recording debut in 2001, Mariza
has performed at the world’s great concert venues from the Sydney
Opera House and London’s Royal Albert Hall to Carnegie Hall and
she is now seen as the successor to the adored diva Amália Rodrigues.
In the past two years, in addition to her live appearances, she
has inspired a BBC documentary titled Mariza and the Story of
Fado and she starred in Carlos Saura’s film Fados, which
premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
She was born Marisa dos Reis Nunes in Mozambique – then Portuguese
East Africa – to a Portuguese father and African mother. Almost
immediately following her 2001 debut album Fado Em Mim, Mariza
became one of the most popular fado artists. The album reached
triple platinum sales in Portugal, received the German Critics award,
and introduced Mariza to the world outside her adopted home country.
In 2002 she was named Best European World Music Artist by BBC Radio
3 and received the award for Most Outstanding Performance at the
Quebec Summer Festival. Mariza’s second album, "Fado Curvo," released
in 2003, surpassed all expectations. It reached number six on Billboard’s
world music chart, and in Portugal, the album went double platinum.
German critics awarded her the Deutsche Schalplatten Kritik Award,
and in Portugal, foreign journalists voted Mariza "Personality of
the Year," recognizing her as one of the best-loved artists in the
country.
In 2004, she released her first DVD, Mariza: Live in London,
recorded at London’s Union Chapel. She was also featured on the
Official Album of the 2004 Olympic Games in a duet with Sting, and
was honoured with the European Border Breakers Award at the international
music trade show MIDEM. Her third album, Transparente, released
in 2005, pays tribute to legendary fadistas Fernando Maurício, Carlos
do Carmo and Amália Rodrigues. That year she was named a UNICEF
ambassador for Portugal and also took part in the Eden Project section
of "Live 8" in Cornwall, UK under the banner "Africa Calling," alongside
such artists as Youssou N’Dour and Angélique Kidjo. At the end of
2006 Mariza released her live CD/DVD Concerto em Lisboa on
the EMI label. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best Folk
Album category.
Mariza last appeared at Massey Hall in October 2007.
This performance is a co-presentation with Small World Music Society
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